This week’s cover story is the final installment in a series of articles to help nonprofit organizations see the world from another perspective. The series also includes what funders, volunteers, consultants, and the media would like the nonprofit sector to know about their side of the relationship.

Nationally, more than 22 million Canadians – 85% of the population aged 15 and over – made a financial donation to a charitable or other nonprofit organization in 2004. These donors gave an estimated $8.9 billion, which works out to an average of $400 each according to the recently released 2004 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating. In this month’s story, we check in with four donors from different parts of the country to find out what motivates them to give and what advice they can offer to help nonprofits be strategic in their ask.

Barbara Hall, a senior health care administrator in Halifax, Nova Scotia, explains that she has given to the United Way through payroll donations for practically her entire career, but it is only recently that she considers herself a strategic giver. A few years ago she stepped up her giving and became a “leadership giver” – someone who gives $1,000 or more to the United Way. Says Hall, “When you start giving larger amounts you start to think, ‘Is this where I want to put $1,000?’ That’s a lot different than just giving a few dollars to someone canvassing at your door or to a friend asking you for a donation. I mean, $1,000 can buy you something pretty nice. So you really start to think more about what you are doing.”

Doing your homework

She now gives to a select group of charities and they each have a solid reputation and presence in her local community. While she may give $20 to disaster relief in another country, if Hall is going to make a substantial donation, she wants to see a local application of the donation. She always checks out what percentage of her donation will go towards administration and looks for an accountability framework. She does her research by requesting an annual report or donor package.

Hall’s new strategic approach has taken away some of the guilt she used to feel with so many fund solicitations from worthy causes. “If I know that I am making a substantial contribution to a couple of charities and I’ve picked them strategically, now when someone canvasses me I feel okay saying no. I have made a significant contribution and I don’t have to feel bad when the charity to help orphaned children calls.”

Jack Donald also has a list to guide his strategic giving. He is a small business owner in Red Deer, Alberta and is both a donor and one who is often found leading fundraising campaigns, like the recent local hospice campaign. For Donald, beyond looking for a charity that will make a difference in the community, he wants to see a comprehensive accounting system, balanced books, an adequate source of income, reasonable fundraising targets and a viable business plan. Before he puts his money into a project, he “wants to know they are not going to go broke in a year or two; that their good works will continue on.” He finds the answers by asking for financial statements and finding out if the organization has a treasurer and a formal board structure.

Relationships matter

Dr. Karen Pappin made a very specific donation to the Cambrian (College) Foundation in Sudbury, Ontario. She set up a scholarship for business students in memory of her late father. Her dad was a self-made entrepreneur who helped many people along the way and it felt fitting to remember him with this kind of donation. Pappin says it was healing and eased her pain when she was approached by the foundation’s executive director about making this donation. “It stopped me from going off in random directions,” explains Pappin, “and presented me with the chance to tangibly demonstrate how important my dad’s life had been.”

Her advice to charities is to remember that they are dealing with a very significant event and to approach families with empathy and understanding. She also urges charities to nurture the relationship with the donor. “Think of the transaction as a commitment to a relationship with the donor as opposed to ‘thank you very much, that was a great one night stand.'” As a result of how well the Cambrian Foundation treated Pappin, she now sits on their board of directors. She recommends that other organizations look at their donor lists when they are building their list of board recruits.

The habit of giving

Winnipeg’s Lawrie Pollard says he’s been a donor all his life and credits his father for instilling him with the habit more than 50 years ago. In the family business, Pollard’s father started a United Way campaign. At the time, Pollard was about 22 years old and, like everyone else in the company, he received a pledge card. When his father saw that he had donated $10 he called his son aside and told him the amount was not acceptable considering he was earning $75 per week. “That was the beginning,” recalls Pollard. “I was fortunate because I was conditioned to realize that I had a responsibility to charity.”

Today, Pollard is bothered by the fact that organizations seem to spend an awful lot of time going after and saluting the big donor. He feels strongly that charities need to remember the person who lives modestly and gives modestly. That’s why he’s drawn to the Winnipeg Foundation and sits on their board of directors. Eighty-five years ago the foundation started with ta donation of $100,000 from one man.

“Every year in our annual report, we have his picture and salute him,” says Pollard. “But we also celebrate the ‘widow’s mite’ because after the foundation started, a woman sent a letter with two dollars. The letter explained that while she didn’t have very much, she thought the foundation was a wonderful organization and she wanted to donate her two dollars. We salute her donation every year and I don’t think charities do enough of that. Charities need to find a way to salute people of modest means who reach way down to make a donation.”

No doubt about it, Canadians are extremely generous people, but as these four donors demonstrate, they have expectations and are becoming more strategic in how they respond to appeals. This means charities also need to become increasingly strategic in both whom they ask and how they ask.

Louise Chatterton Luchuk is a freelance writer and consultant who combines her love of writing with experience at the local, provincial and national levels of volunteer-involving organizations. For more information, visit www.luchuk.com.